1. (Field of the Invention)
The present invention relates to a manipulator for finely moving, in the form of remote control, a glass electrode or the like which is utilized to take out genetic information from within a cell in the field of fundamental medical science or in the field of biotechnology such as gene manipulation having in recent years undergone extensive study in many quarters.
2. (Description of the Prior Art)
Recently, a glass electrode injected therein with an electrolyte such as KCl, NaCl or the like has been utilized to take out information from within a cell in the field of biotechnology in particular which includes gene manipulation. The glass electrode is moved to a specified position of the cell by a manipulator and is positioned there. The manipulator is mounted with the glass electrode and comprises a roughly moving mechanism for roughly moving the glass electrode in the vertical or heightwise direction as well as in the longitudinal and lateral directions, and a finely moving mechanism for finely moving the glass electrode in both the longitudinal and lateral directions. This old manipulator, however, has no finely moving mechanism for moving the glass electrode in the heightwise direction. For this reason, the use of it is limited to the glass electrode either not required to undergo a heightwise fine movement or not so much required to be adjusted with high precision. In recent years, however, not a few glass electrodes, in particular, which are required to be adjusted with high precision, have appeared. Thus, the old manipulator has become inconvenient to handle such glass electrodes. As a countermeasure, it is contemplated to add to the old manipulator a heightwise finely moving mechanism having a known construction wherein rotation of an operation knob causes a rod to push a spring to finely move a slider associated via this spring. In this type of manipulator, however, since an operation lever of the longitudinally and laterally finely moving mechanism is spaced away from the operation knob of the heightwise finely moving mechanism, much inconvenience arises in operating such a lever and a knob while the operator is viewing or observing a microscope.